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The BMW 6.7 liter V16 motor that never was

What you see here is a modified BMW M70 V12. That V12 was developed in 1988 and put out 295 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque. To take on the best Mercedes was able to throw at them, 6 months after the M70 was on the market BMW decided to blow them away and developed a V16. The V16 was a full foot longer than the V12 coming in with a weight penalty of about 130 pounds. It offered gains of 100 hp on top of the V12 as well as upping the torque to 461 lb-ft.

Impressive? Well, for back in the 80's, sure. However, BMW's N73 6.0 liter V12 from 2003 puts out 445 horsepower and 442 foot-pounds of torque. Sure, a much newer motor, but just goes to show that the V16 was probably overkill and did not make production sense. The N73 is outdated today as well with the current production N74 6.0 liter twin turbo V12 putting out 544 horsepower and and 553 pound-feet of torque which the naturally aspirated V16 would never match, certainly not offering the same efficiency and cost. Still, it is a lot of fun to think about what could have been a "767" with the V16 and we thank Jalopnik for bringing it to our attention.

cool find man, ive heard of 16 cylinder engines being used in airplanes but never in a car until the veyron concept, and that one had 18 cylinders and 3 turbos! they changed it up to 16 and downsized the turbos adding one more, it was more fuel efficient, more compact and had better response. anyway since this is from the 80's it far eclipses the veyron in terms of when it was built. imagine what bmw could do with 16 cylinders today, and with their love of turbos today too

cool find man, ive heard of 16 cylinder engines being used in airplanes but never in a car until the veyron concept, and that one had 18 cylinders and 3 turbos! they changed it up to 16 and downsized the turbos adding one more, it was more fuel efficient, more compact and had better response. anyway since this is from the 80's it far eclipses the veyron in terms of when it was built. imagine what bmw could do with 16 cylinders today, and with their love of turbos today too

Cadillac had a V16 back in 1930.

The W16 for the Veyron kind of makes sense based on two 8 cylinder motors.

you're absolutely right, what was i thinking, duesenburgs also had a v16 option no? or was it a straight 8 or something? when did the first w configuration come into play? i know straight 6's and v12's are supposed to be internally balanced, but what about these configurations? do they need counterweights similar to v8's and i4's? how about porsche's H design or the subi boxer?

you're absolutely right, what was i thinking, duesenburgs also had a v16 option no? or was it a straight 8 or something? when did the first w configuration come into play? i know straight 6's and v12's are supposed to be internally balanced, but what about these configurations? do they need counterweights similar to v8's and i4's? how about porsche's H design or the subi boxer?

For the 16 cylinder the W configuration originated with the VW group I believe, everything was a V before that.

V16's are balanced, no need for counterweights.

Subi and Porsche don't need a balance shaft or counterweights. This is mostly true for all boxer motors regardless of how many cylinder they have.

BMW showed off a V16 again at 9.0 liters in a Rolls-Royce concept, the 100EX. Not sure what the power specs on it were.